PRESS RELEASE Naval Headquarters Directorate of Public Relations Tel: 20062326

“ NAVY FLOTILLA PARTICIPATES IN MULTINATIONAL DRILLS ‘GULF SHIELD-I’ IN ARABIAN GULF

ISLAMABAD 09 Apr 2018: Ships TIPPU SULTAN , HIMMAT and Pakistan Maritime Security Ship BASOL visited Port Jubail, KSA from 30 Mar — 07 Apr 18 to participate in Multilateral Tri-Services Joint Exercise Gulf Shield-I organized by Royal Saudi Armed Forces (RSAF). Besides warships, other elements from Pakistan Navy i.e. Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft P3C, Special Service Group and Pak Marines also participated in the Exercise. PN Flotilla was commanded by Muhammad Faisal Abbasi.

The maritime component of the exercise was conducted in two phases. The first phase was conducted at harbour which included joint planning conferences, seminars on professional topics and informal interactions to enhance goodwill amongst the participating countries.

The second phase of the exercise was conducted in Saudi Waters at Arabian Gulf which included various exercises related to Irregular Warfare, Coastal Defence, Air Defence and Search and Rescue at sea etc to enhance interoperability amongst the participating countries. Apart from PN and PMSA, warships from , KSA, Kuwait, Turkey, UAE and USA also took part in the Exercise.

During PN Flotilla's stay at Port Jubail, a reception dinner was also hosted onboard PNS TIPPU SULTAN by H E Ambassador of Pakistan to KSA, (Retd) Khan Hasham Bin Saddique which received an overwhelming response due to participation of senior RSNF Officials including RSNF Eastern Fleet Fahad Ali AI-Furqan and officers/ men from participating countries of Exercise Gulf Shield-I.

Apart from sizeable participation of other Armed Forces of Pakistan, participation of Pakistan Navy with large number of sea going units with embarked helos, Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft, Special Forces and Pak Marines personnel is clear manifestation of Pakistan Government's policy towards furthering bilateral relations with participating countries. It also reflects PN's policy of collaborating at international level to strengthen maritime security and the shared objective of promoting peace in the region.

Director General Public Relations (Navy)